Ebola: Liberia appeals to Nigeria to protect its citizens

The Liberian Government has appealed to Nigerian authorities to protect Liberian citizens in the country from “stereotyping and harassment” in the wake of the Ebola outbreak in West African.

Liberia’s High Commissioner to Nigeria, Al-Hassan Conteh, made the appeal on Thursday in Abuja at a briefing organised by the Nigerian government for the diplomatic corps on Ebola outbreak in the country.

Conteh said Liberians living in Lagos had been “targeted” after the death of Patrick Sawyer, a Liberian and American citizen in Lagos from the Ebola virus.

NAN recalls that Sawyer flew into Lagos from Monrovia for an ECOWAS meeting in Calabar in July.

He took ill on the flight and was taken to a hospital in Lagos where he later died after testing positive to the Ebola virus. It was revealed later that Sawyer had contact with his sister in Liberia who died of the disease.

Since his death, Nigeria has recorded six cases of the virus and all of them had contact with Sawyer. One of them, a nurse, who attended to Sawyer, died on Tuesday in Lagos.

“The attention of our embassy has been brought to several cases of harassment of Liberians especially in Lagos and other places.

“As we combat this disease, this is not only health issue but social too. It is important that we frame our public campaign to indicate that association is not causation.

“For example, not because the index case came from Liberia then all Liberians have Ebola,” Conteh said.

He also condemned a cartoon in a national newspaper which he said denigrated his country. Conteh thanked Nigeria for assisting Liberia with funds to fight the outbreak.

He said Liberia had declared state of emergency, effective 6 August, for 90 days to institute extraordinary measures in combating the disease.

Maj.-Gen. Alfred Nelson-Williams, Deputy High Commissioner of Sierra Leone to Nigeria, said his country had also declared a state of emergency to tackle the disease.

“People with suspected Ebola have been put under surveillance. The parliaments have been recalled and the President even cancelled a trip to US for the US-Africa Summit.